Sunken fishing boat retrieved from sea yesterday

The boat was retrieved from the seabed late in the morning and taken to the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM)’s maritime base in Haywharf.

The boat would be examined by a court expert to try to establish whether the fishing boat was moving or stationary at the time of the collision that occurred around half a kilometre off Tigné.

This might help investigators “get to the bottom of what caused the accident, and determine whether any charges should be brought”, unnamed sources quoted by The Sunday Times added.

The owner of the fishing boat, Joseph Gatt, was thrown overboard when he was involved in a collision with a sailing boat, “Sorcery”, owned by John Zarb from Naxxar.

Gatt died some time later in hospital and autopsy results, released on Wednesday, revealed that the cause of death was “asphyxia due to drowning”.

According to The Sunday Times, the cause of the accident might “be difficult to determine given there were no witnesses who saw the collision take place”.

The same unnamed sources were quoted as saying that the two people on the yacht, Borg and his wife, “did not see what happened”.

They only realised what had happened “after they heard a loud bang and looked towards the sea”, the same unnamed sources were quoted as saying, where they saw flotsam around them. They then “spotted Gatt in the water and threw a lifebuoy and a rope,” the sources were quoted as saying.

According to the Sunday Times, when they realised the man was weak, “Ms Borg jumped into the sea to help the elderly man. Her husband followed soon after and the two kept the man afloat”

However, they found it difficult “to help the man up their boat’s ladder”. A boat with two foreigners aboard then came over to assist.

Meanwhile, Zarb had called for help and members of the AFM came to the scene and took Gatt to shore from where he was driven to hospital, the same sources were quoted as saying.

A magisterial inquiry, headed by Magistrate Edwina Grima, was launched. Transport Minister Austin Gatt also ordered an inquiry into the accident in terms of the Merchant Shipping Act.